Splitting machine



July 14, 1931.

W. C. BAXTER SPLITTING MACHINE Filed July 15, 1929 NN MN Patented July14, 1931 provide UNITED STATES P NT mm wr-Lnrm c. naxrna, or BEVERLY,massncnusn'rrs, assreuon r0 Um'rnn snor. MACHINERY conrom'rrou, orrarnajsomunw a; oqnronarrou or ew JERSEY,

TuI MAQHINE Application filed July 13,

i This invention relates to splitting machines and is herein illustratedas embodied V in a machine for splitting upper leather for use in themanufacture. of boots and shoes a Machines for splitting-upper leathercommonly comprise a knife and a pair of feed rolls, one. of which iscomposed of independently yieldable sections: while the other is a rigidroll. The. sectional roll is usually the lofwerbne, and the sections areeach supported by springs so that, during the sp itting operatiomtheleather will be prop,-

erly held up against the upper roll and fed to the knife irrespective ofvariations in tions of the sectional roll should yield comjparativelyeasily but that with a thick, stiff piece the sections should yieldmuch' less easily. In other words, the sections shoul I each exert moreforce upon a thick. stifi' piece of leather than upon a thin flexible Inorder to permit a machlnc of the, type referred to to be. still betteradapted to opcrate u on either kind of work, there. is in accordancewith one feature of theinvention a sectional member for as sisting infeeding the work to the knife,

yielding supporting members for the sections constructed and arranged tocause the sections to press with a given force upon the I work, andseparate means for supplementing the action of the supporting members tocause the sections to press with greater force upon the work. In theillustrated machine the sections of a sectional feed roll are mountedindependently each in a yoke which is supported by a coiled spring; anda plurality of leaf springs are provided which may be causedsimultaneously to contact with the bottoms of the. stems of the yokes,whendesired. Normally the leaf'springs are inoperative, so that themachine is adapted In to operate upon light, flexible leather; and,

1829. Serial No. 37 8,149,

when it is desired to operatev upon thick,

stiff leather, therleaf springs are caused-to supplement the action ofthe coiled springs so that-the, leatheris held up firmly against theupper roll and theleather is reduced by the splitting knife to a uniformthickness throughout.

This and other features of thei-nvention including certain detailsOfiCOIlStI'llCtl'OIl and combinations of parts wi'll be described asembodied in an illustrated machine and pointed out in the appendedclaims.

Referringnow to the accompanying draw 1ngs: I

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a portion of a machine in which thepresent invention is embodied and,

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section of a portion of the machine. i

The machine in many respect-sis like-the machine shown in Patent No;1,382,755, granted June 28, 1921 upon anapplication filed in my name;and'before the new construction is described in detail, the oldconstruction will be briefly outlined. The machine comprises a beltknife 3, an upper roll '5 of rigid construction and a lower roll made upof independently movable sections 7 mounted upon a rotary shaft 9. Thesections 7 and'the shaft 9 are shaped as shown so, that the sectionsaredriven from the shaft but may move up and down. The sections areguided between two vertical members 11 and 13 having respectively ahardened plate I 15 and a hardened bar 16 arranged to contact withopposite localities on each section, said vertical members'being fastto'a heavy bar 17 This bar has a channel, as shown, having holes throughits bottom in which are verticallyv slidable a plurality of stems 19 ofyokes 21 in each of which is rotatably mounted a supporting roll 23, oneto each section 7 of the lower feed roll. The yokes are rectangular incross section so as to have a sliding "fit in the channel in the bar 17and are each urged'upw-ardly by a coiled spring 25, the extent of upwardmovement of each yoke being limited by a nut 2? threaded on the stem 19and held in adjusted position by a lock nut 29. In the machine of thepatent the two nuts just described are not present; and no means isprovided for adjusting the height to which the supporting rolls 23 mayrise. The bar 17 in which the series of supporting rolls are thusmounted is supported by heavy springs, one of which is shown at 30contained in hollow posts, one of which is shown at 31. are two of theseposts, one at each end of the bar 17, which are adjustable vertically bymechanism not shown, to raise and lower the sectional roll. The machineas described above, except as noted, is or may be like the machine ofthe patent to which reference is made for further details ofconstruction.

It is desirable, for example when stiff, heavy work is being operatedupon, to provide means for increasing the force necessary to depress thesections 7 so that such heavy work will be held up firmly against theupper roll irrespective of variations in the thickness of the work atdifferent 10- calities thereof. To this end a series of leaf springs 33are provided which may be moved into and held in the positions shown,when desired, so as to supplement the action of the coiled springs 25.When the leaf springs are in position to supplement the action of thesprings 25, as shown, the free end of each leaf spring is exerting anupward pressure upon the bottom of one of the stems 19 of the yokes 21of a supporting roll 23, there being as many leaf springs as there arestems. At the end remote from its free end (the right-hand end in Fig.2) each leaf spring is fastened by screws 35 to a carrier bar 37 havingtwo perforated lugs 39, 41 which are received respectively between apair of stationary perforated lugs 43, 43 and a second pair ofstationary perforated lugs 45, 45. A hinge pin 47 extends through thepair of lugs 43 and lugs 39, and a second hinge pin 49 extends throughthe pair of lugs 45 and lug 41, the carrier bar 37 thus being angularlymovable about the alined axes of theseipins. The two pairs of spacedlugs 43, 45 are integral with a long bracket 51 which is fastened to theframe of the machine'by four cap screws 53. Near its opposite ends thebracket 51 has pins 55 which are connected respectively by tensionsprings 57 to pins 59 driven'into the carrier bar 37. These tensionsprings tend at all times to swing the carrier bar 37 in acounterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, so as to withdraw theleaf springs 33 from contact with the bottoms of the stems 19 of theyokes of the supporting rolls 23. In order to swing the carrier bar 37in a clockwise direction into the position shown so as to swing the leafsprings 33 into operative position, a thumb screw 61 has its upwardlyextending stem threaded through a lug on the stationary-bracket 51, thehead of the screw contact- There ing with a flat-topped projection 63 onthe carrier bar 37.

Normally the adjusting screw 61 is threaded up into the lug on thestationary bracket 51 so that the tension springs 57 swing the carrierbar 37 sufficiently to withdraw the leaf springs 33 from contact withbottoms of the stems 19 of the yokes. With this position of parts themachine is adapted to operate upon thin, flexible leather. When it isdesired to operate upon thick, stifl' leather, the thumb screw 61 isscrewed down until'the parts occupy the positions shown. It is thuspossible to adjust the machine quickly so as to put it into condition tooperate upon either flexible or stiff leather.

Although the invention has been set forth as embodied in a particularmachine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited inthe scope of its application to the particular machine which has beenshown and described.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to securebyLetters Patent of the United States is 1. A machine of the classdescribed having, in combination, a knife, means including a sectionalmember for feeding the work to the knife, yielding supporting membersfor the sections arranged to cause the sections to press with a givenforce upon the work, and separate means for supplementing the individualaction of the supporting members to cause the sections to press withgreater force upon the work.

2. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife,means including a sectional member for feeding the work to the knife,yielding supporting members for the sections arrangedto cause thesections to press with a given'force upon the work, and separate meansfor simultaneously supplementing the individual action of the supportingmembers to cause the sections to press with greater force upon the work;

3. A.machine of the class described having, in combination, aknife, amember comprising independently yieldable sections for feeding the workto the knifeymeans including a spring for supporting each sectionwhereby a given force applied to a section causes it to yield, andseparate means for supplementing the action of all the springs toprevent each section from yielding except upon application to it of agreater force.

4;. A machine of the class described'having, in combination, aknife, amember comprising independently yieldable sections for feeding the workto the knife, means includyielding except upon application to it of agreater force.

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife, afeed member having independently yieldable sections, a support for eachsection, springs for sustaining the supports, and additional springmeans adapted to be moved into and out of operative relation to thesupports to supplement the individual action of the first-named springs.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife, afeed member having independently yieldable sections, a support for eachsection, a spring for sustaining each support, and a plurality of addi-'tional springs adapted to be moved into operative relation, one to eachsupport, to supplement the action of the first-named springs.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife, afeed member having independently yieldable sections, a support for eachsection, a spring for sustaining each support, and a plurality ofadditional springs adapted to be moved simultaneously into operativerelation, one to each support, to supplement the action of thefirstnamed springs.

8. A machine of the class described havs ing, in combination, a knife, afeed member havin independently yieldable sections,'a plurahty ofsprings, one for supporting each section, and resilient means forsupplementing the action of the springs.

I 9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife,means including a. sectional feed roll for advancing the work to theknife, supporting rollers for the sections of the feed roll, yokes inwhich the rollers are mounted, springs for sustaining the yokes, andresilient means adapted to be moved into supporting relation to theyokes to supplement the action of the springs.

10. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife,means including a sectional feed roll for advancing the work to theknife, supporting rollers for the sections of the feed roll, yokes inwhich the rollers are mounted, springs for sustaining the yokes, andresilient means, one for each yoke, adapted to be moved into su portingrelation to the yokes to supplement t e action of the springs.

11. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife, arigid roll, a sectional member comprising independently movable sectionsfor pressing the work In testimony whereof I have signed my 7 name tothis specification.

' WILLIAM C. BAXTER.

against the rigid roll and for cooperating V with said roll in feedingthe work to the knife, yielding supporting members for the sections, andseparate means for supplementing the action of the supporting members tocause the sections to press the work with eater force against the rigidroll. 12. A machine of the class described hav-

